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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Still on the Mend

I saw the coolest x-rays at Dr. Montgomery’s office today. Within minutes of shooting two views of my new and improved neck, the x-ray technician had the x-rays displayed on the computer screen in the examination room. Way cool.

I love technology. I have my July MRI “films” on a CD-ROM and now wish I had brought a floppy disc to the doctor’s today so I could have copied the x-rays. Anyway, the titanium plate and 6 screws were clearly visible in the x-rays. The implant is there to insure that the donor bones fuse well with the cervical bones.

I am on the road to recovery and hope to put those long years with chronic pain and fatigue behind me. I am very confidant that the anterior cervical discectomies and fusions at C5/C6 and C6/C7 have increased the likelihood of an extraordinary reduction in pain. It is all about the quality of life.

I am thankful that both my primary insurance coverage from the State of Michigan, as part of my public school teacher retiree benefits, and my auto insurance company pay all of my neck injury related bills. Unlike my insurance coverage for my organic brain disease (bipolar depression) – my neck injury is guaranteed to be covered for my lifetime. If the State of Michigan doesn’t renege again on retiree health insurance coverage, I should always be able to afford treatment for my dysfunctional thyroid and hypertension.

I just don’t understand why 39 of our 50 States have insurance parity for mental health and organic brain diseases and our Great State of Michigan does not. Is it the stigma? Do the men and women in the State Senate and State House of Representatives believe that those of us with physical defects that cause mental illness are somehow personally responsible? Am I at fault for the roller coaster mood swings that my brain’s chemicals induce? Why, when the vast majority of the citizens in Michigan favor insurance parity, does the Legislature drag its feet?

I was taught that elected leaders are supposed to be acting for the good of the people of Michigan. If insurance company and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce campaign contributions and political support are more important to Legislators than the health of Michigan’s populace, then…

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From Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.